Blade holder



Jan. 28, 1930. w. G. LENZE 03 BLADE HOLDER Filed March 1929 INVENTORBY/p ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 28, 1930 WALTER G. LENZE, OF WESTWOO'D, NEWJERSEY BLADE HOLDER Application filed March 1,

This invention relates to devices for holding safety razor blades, andmore particularly to a holder for facilitating not only stropping butalso honing of safety razor blades.

In general practice safety razor blades are merely stropped by usersdesiring to save in the use of safety razor blades. Invariably, however,mere stropping does not improve the keenness of the edge to a suflicientextent permitting the use of the blade more than a very limited numberof times. It is well known that only honing on an oil stone willactually sharpen the blade to a degree which will make such blade asgood as new.

For this reason I have devised a blade holder which will permit not onlystropping of safety razor blades but also honing, thereby enabling theuser to extract from a blade a long period of service.

The object of my invention, therefore, is to provide a simple,inexpensive and practical safety razor blade holder which will not onlypermit stropping but also honing of razor blades.

The foregoing and further objects will be more fully apparent from thefollowing description and the accompanying drawings, forming part of mydisclosure, but by no means intended to limit it to the actual showing,and in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a preferred form of my device.

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof, partially in section.

Figure 3 illustrates side and front elevations of a blade guard.

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view, taken on lines 4-4 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a cross sectional view, taken on lines 5-5 of Figure 1, and

Figure 6 is a cross sectional detail view, taken on lines 6-6 of Figure1, and showing the arrangement of the portion of the holder engaging arazor blade and provided with a blade guard.

Referring to the figures, it will be seen that my device comprises anelongated stamping made of resilient material. The shape of the 1929.Serial No. 343,705.

stamping varies in cross section, as will be explained presently.

be handled.

In the upper face of the handle portion there will be seen a depression11 so arranged as to provide a bearing 12 for pin 18 of a spreader bar14, which extends partially beyond the handle portion and partialiyagainst the lower leg thereof. This spreader is shown in full lines inFigure 2 in its inoperative position and in dotted lines in itsoperative position, in which position it is adapted to spread or pryapart the reduced blade hclding portions 15 and 16, as inclicated inbroken lines in Figure 2.

The movement of spreader 14 is limited by the position of the walls 17and 18 of recess or depression 11.

Thus, when spreader 14: is in its broken line position, it cannot moveany further and stands up a trifle beyond the perpendicular, therebykeeping the two blade holders 15 and 16 in spread rela- These bladeholders nortion to each other.

mally abut with each other due to the spring tension exerted upon themby the resiliency of the material and by the shape of the handle portionfrom which they extend.

The lower blade holder is equipped with a pair of pins or extensions 19provided with a transverse slot 20, the purpose of which will beexplained presently. The upper blade holder 15 is provided withapertures 21, which are adapted to accommodate pins 19.

the honing operation.

In this manner the edge of the blade cannot be honed beyond a certainangle, which corresponds to the most advantageous angle of sharpeningblades.

\Vhen it is desired to strop a blade of the Gillette type, a guard forone of its edges may be temporarily attached to the blade holders. Suchguard is indicated in broken lines in Figure 1, and shown in detail inFigure 3 and in cross section in Figure 6. It consists of a rounded,hollow portion 22, terminating in substantially parallel extensions 23and 24, adapted to normally bear towards each other. The upper extension23 is provided with a pair of projections 25, adapted to register withthe recesses 21 of pins 19 when the guard is slipped over one edge ofthe blade.

Referring to Figure 6, it will be seen that blade holder portions 15 and16 are spread by the thickness of razor blade 26, whereby aperture 21 iselevated beyond recess or slots 20 of pin 19. It will be observed thatprojection 25 not only engages slot or recess 20 but also bears againstthe edge of aperture 21 of the upper blade holder. In this manner theguard is prevented from disengaging the blade holders, once having beenforced over the beveled edges thereof and set in position as describedabove. The guard therefore will remain in its position until forciblyremoved and changed to the other side of the blade holders.

The rounded portion of the guard serves not only for preventing damageto one of the razor blade edges, and the damage to the strop thereby,but also serves as guide and turning edge in the stropping operation.

While I have shown specific constructions of my device, be it understoodthat modifications and improvements may be incorporated therein withoutdeparting from the broad scope of my invention, for which I claim:

1. In a razor blade holder for facilitating both honing and stropping ofsafety razor blades, an elongated resilient member, bent upon itself toform a broad handle portion at one end, and a pair of upper and lowerblade holding portions of reduced width atthe other end, said latterportions adapted to normally bear against each other, a spreading devicefor said blade holding portions associated with said handle portion andadapted to separate said blade holding portions when inoperative'position, and to permit them to assume their normal, closedrelation, when in inoperative position, a pair of ins or extensionsassociated with one of said lade holding portions, apertures provided inthe other blade holding portion and arranged to accommodate said pins.transverse recesses provided in said pins, a blade edge guard removablyassociated with and engaging said blade holding portions, a pair ofprojections provided at one edge of said guard and adapted to registerwith the recesses of said pins and to engage the edge of the aperturesof said other blade holding portion, thereby preventing thedisengagement of said guard from the blade holding portions.

2. In a razor blade holder for facilitating both honing and stropping ofsafety razor blades, an elongated stamping of resilient material, bentupon itself, and forming a handle portion having rounded faces, and apair of blade holders of reduced width and substantially diamond-shapedcross section extending from said handle portion and adapted to normallybear against each other due to the resiliency of the material and due tothe shape of the handle portion, a spreader associated with andpivotally mounted in said handle portion and adapted to pry apart saidblade holders, a pair of pins associated with one of said blade holdersand provided with transverse recesses, corresponding apertures providedin the other blade holder and adapted to accommodate said pins, a bladeguard of resilient material removably associated. with said bladeholders and comprising an enlarged hollow portion adapted to guard arazor blade edge and terminating in substan ially parallel extensions,adapted to normally bear towards each other, a pair of inwardprojections provided at the edge of one of said extensions and. adaptedto register with the recesses of said pins and further adapted to engagethe edges of the apertures provided in said other blade holder, therebypreventing the disengagement of the guard from the blade holders.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

VALTER G. LENZE.

